Lactone Backbone Density in Rigid Electron‐Deficient Semiconducting Polymers Enabling High n‐type Organic Thermoelectric Performance

Abstract

Three lactone‐based rigid semiconducting polymers were designed to overcome major limitations in the development of n‐type organic thermoelectrics, namely electrical conductivity and air stability. Experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrated that increasing the lactone group density by increasing the benzene content from 0 % benzene (P‐0), to 50 % (P‐50), and 75 % (P‐75) resulted in progressively larger electron affinities (up to 4.37 eV), suggesting a more favorable doping process, when employing (N‐DMBI) as the dopant. Larger polaron delocalization was also evident, due to the more planarized conformation, which is proposed to lead to a lower hopping energy barrier. As a consequence, the electrical conductivity increased by three orders of magnitude, to achieve values of up to 12 S cm and Power factors of 13.2 μWm−1 K−2were thereby enabled. These findings present new insights into material design guidelines for the future development of air stable n‐type organic thermoelectrics.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Dec 18, 2021
Source ID
10.1002/ange.202113078

Entities

People

  • Bryan D Paulsen
  • Craig M.S. Combe
  • Dilara Meli
  • Hu Chen
  • Iain McCulloch
  • Jonathan Rivnay
  • Joseph W Strzalka
  • Junfu Tian
  • Karl J Thorley
  • Khrystyna Regeta
  • Marc-Antoine Stoeckel
  • Maryam Alsufyani
  • Rawad K. Hallani
  • Simone Fabiano
  • Xingxing Chen
  • Xudong Ji
  • Yuttapoom Puttisong

Organizations

  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
  • Linköping University
  • Northwestern University
  • University of Kentucky
  • University of Oxford

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Polymer Science and Technology
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics